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YEAR

The YEAR formula in Google Sheets returns the year of a specified date. This function is useful when you need to extract the year from a date for analysis or calculations. The YEAR formula takes one argument, which is the date from which to extract the year. The output is a four-digit number representing the year.

Usage

Use the YEAR formula with the syntax shown below, it has 1 required parameter:

=YEAR(date)
Parameters:
  1. date (required):
    The date from which to extract the year. This argument must be a valid date reference, such as a cell reference containing a date, or a date returned by another formula.

Examples

Here are a few example use cases that explain how to use the YEAR formula in Google Sheets.

Calculating age

The YEAR formula can be used to calculate a person's age based on their birthdate. By subtracting the birth year from the current year, you can get an accurate age calculation that updates automatically as time passes.

Grouping data by year

If you have a large dataset that includes dates, you can use the YEAR formula to group the data by year. This can be useful for analyzing trends over time, or for creating charts and graphs that show data by year.

Extracting year from text strings

If you have text strings that include dates in a variety of formats, you can use the YEAR formula to extract the year and convert it to a numeric value. This can be useful if you need to perform calculations on the dates, or if you want to sort the data by year.

Common Mistakes

YEAR not working? Here are some common mistakes people make when using the YEAR Google Sheets Formula:

Incorrect date format

The YEAR formula requires a valid date format. If the date is not formatted correctly, the formula will return an error. Ensure that the date is formatted correctly, such as YYYY-MM-DD.

Invalid date

If the date provided is not a valid date, the YEAR formula will return an error. Check that the date is correct and try again.

Using a cell reference without a date

If a cell reference is used without a date in it, the YEAR formula will return an error. Make sure that the cell reference contains a valid date.

Providing a non-date value

If a non-date value is provided instead of a date, the YEAR formula will return an error. Ensure that a valid date value is used.

Using the wrong syntax

The YEAR formula requires the syntax YEAR(date). If the syntax is incorrect, the formula will return an error. Check that the syntax is correct and try again.

Related Formulas

The following functions are similar to YEAR or are often used with it in a formula:

  • MONTH

    The MONTH formula is used to extract the month from a given date, returning it as a number between 1 and 12. This function is commonly used to summarize and analyze data that includes dates.

  • DAY

    The DAY function is used to extract the day of the month from a given date. It takes in a single argument, a date in a valid format, and returns the day of the month as a number between 1 and 31. This function can be useful for tasks such as sorting or filtering data based on the day of the month.

  • DATE

    The DATE formula is used to create a date object in Google Sheets. It takes three arguments: year, month, and day and returns a date. This formula is useful when you need to perform date calculations or create date-based charts and graphs.

  • WEEKDAY

    The WEEKDAY formula takes a given date and returns the day of the week it represents, as a number ranging from 1 (Sunday) to 7 (Saturday). This function is most commonly used to calculate the day of the week for a given date and to perform calculations or comparisons based on the day of the week.

Learn More

You can learn more about the YEAR Google Sheets function on Google Support.